


The Little Prince

by zoostitcher89



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Gift Fic, Inspired by Fanfiction, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:13:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22256995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zoostitcher89/pseuds/zoostitcher89
Summary: Generously being allowed to play in chancecraz' sandbox. Inspired by "Of Queens, Knights, and Pawns." Probably won't make much sense unless you've read that fic. Which you should.A time traveling Leia gives birth to Ben Solo again. She makes the decision she has to for the good of her son.
Relationships: Leia Organa & Darth Vader, Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa/Han Solo
Comments: 43
Kudos: 308





	The Little Prince

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chancecraz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chancecraz/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Of Queens, Knights, and Pawns](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8543680) by [chancecraz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chancecraz/pseuds/chancecraz). 



Leia pressed her nose to the small thatch of dark hair on her newborn son’s head and just breathed. The soft, addictive new baby smell flooded her brain. She had to fight to keep from clenching her arms tight around the precious little bundle in her arms. Her precious son, sleeping so innocently in her arms. Her son, who might grow up to destroy worlds and murder his father.

When she’d first fell pregnant, she’d been sure it wasn’t Ben. The timing was all wrong. Ben should’ve been born over a year ago. Genetically, it shouldn’t have been Ben. So while she’d panicked at the thought of bringing any child of the Skywalker line into the world, she’d made her peace. But when that familiar force signature started glowing softly behind her navel at five months pregnant, any sense of calm had flown out the window. She’d promptly disguised herself and gone to an anonymous clinic. She’d stayed in the waiting room for hours, not even checking in. Luke had found her. He hadn’t said anything, just settled in beside her, thrown an arm over her shoulders, and held her as she’d broken down in that crowded, stuffy little room. Of course the force would intervene. Apparently, she was always doomed to carry her son.

“Send him in,” Leia said to Han, so quietly, never taking her eyes off Ben.

“You sure, your Worship?” Han asked.

“No. But I’m as sure as I can be,” Leia answered.

When Darth Vader entered the room, Leia refused to look up. Most days she could put up with the sight of him. Most days she could bear to look into the mask and not flinch. Today, weak and sweaty and aching from her labor, holding her child with a dark destiny on his shoulders, she couldn’t bear it. So she looked down at her sweet-smelling baby and nowhere else as the sound of his respirator filled the room. He was silent, allowing her to set the tone of the conversation, as he so often did these days. Leia traced a finger around rosebud lips and across a soft cheek, memorizing the face of her son for the second time.

“His name is Ben,” Leia said, flatly, “We thought about changing it, you know. Doesn’t seem fair to saddle a baby with such a loaded name. But changing his name wouldn’t change who he was. Is. Will be. Could be.”

Several heavy breathes rasped through his respirator before he responded, “It’s him, then.”

Leia hummed a little, “Yes. The force would not be denied.”

The shift and pause that Leia now knew frequently preceded an awkward remark sounded at her side, “You named him for Obi-Wan, then?”

“Not the point,” she responded flatly.

“Of course,” he muttered, a little sullenly. His issues with Obi-Wan ran deep, and Leia was willing to give him the tiniest of grace periods after the shock of a grandson named for his best friend/worst enemy.

Leia made herself look up, finally. Made herself meet that mask, that was both like and unlike her sons. Her mouth immediately dried up in reaction, but she knew what she had decided. She wouldn’t back down now, not when her son’s fate hung in the balance. She gestured him forwards from where he had barely entered the room. She knew he’d been waiting, hoping she’d allow him a glimpse of the grandson she’d birthed. He rarely asked for anything from her, knowing everything his alternate had cost her. But he also would hover in the background like a great protective bird, hopeful that she’d toss him a scrap out of pity. Leia, in turn, tried to be gracious as her mother raised her to be.

Today would be different.

“You once asked me what atonement I’d ask of you,” Leia began, voice heavy. Lord Vader, her father, shifted slowly forward. She jerked her head towards the chair next to her bed. Moving with infinite slowness, he sank down next to her. Her heart sped up as he approached, but she made herself control her reaction as her sat down next to her. She dropped her eyes to Ben’s face, squishy and red from the birth only hours ago. She could feel Vader leaning forward just a hair, trying to see his grandson but not encroach on her space. Well, today was his lucky day.

“Hold out your arms,” Leia commanded. She could feel him staring at her as he slowly obeyed, stiff, arms straight out like he was presenting them for her to lop them off. Honestly, like she’d do that in front of her newborn. Sighing, she reached out and used the tips of her fingers to indicate he should bend his elbows, which he immediately did. When his arms resembled enough of a cradle to satisfy her, she sat up slowly, painfully. He stiffened, and she was sure without the respirator he wouldn’t have been breathing. His force presence was a still and shocked as she’d ever felt it, like the tide going out before a tsunami as she laid her infant in his arms.

The force came crashing back into the room with the force of a hurricane as Lord Vader stared down at Ben in shock. Ben, force sensitive infant that he was, instantly started crying. Everything seemed to freeze, then gentle tendrils in the force wrapped around her son, soothing and soft. Ben wailed on for a few moments, and Leia slowly sat back letting the two of them figure it out. If things went according to plan, the two of them would have to get used to one another.

Gradually, Ben trailed off his crying and slipped back towards sleep. Leia grabbed a pacifier off the bedside table and handed it to Lord Vader. It would remain one of the strangest moments of her life to watch that black gloved hand accept it and gently pressed it to the grumpy curve of her son’s mouth, shushing him. Apparently, Lord Vader had some experience with children. Leia tried very hard not to think about a different pair of infants being held in those arms. She could feel him struggling to stay in the moment as well, eyes behind those dark lenses fixed on her son.

“Why?” The short question was asked lowly, voice ragged. Leia very carefully did not touch the force, allowing him the privacy to work through what he was feeling. He was getting better at doing that, but he did it the best when everyone ignored that he was struggling.

“Because this is what I’d ask of you,” Leia said, just as quiet. Vader leaned forwards, intent on her, but also cradling her son with infinite gentleness. Yes, this could work, “Your atonement. You will watch over him. You will protect him. You will be honest with him. And you will make sure my son never, ever falls.”

She could feel the disturbance in the force that her words caused, not only to Vader, but rippling outwards through time and space. But this time, a protective bubble originating from Vader was wrapped around her infant son, and he never stirred. The mask Lord Vader wore remained fixed on her face, but she looked only at her son, cradled in the dark arms of her father. This time, he would have a chance to outrun the legacy of his family. This time, he would know the truth about his grandfather, because his grandfather would be there, every day, shielding him from the poison that had bled into the innocent mind of her son. This time would be different.

“Yes, my daughter. I will,” he vowed solemnly, and in her ears the force sang _change, change, change…_


End file.
